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A demonstrator holds a sign in support of Personhood as Myron Moton, right, displays a sign in support of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney while 'Holly.' a veteran in support of Romney. drives in a M35 military truck by near the University of Denver on Oct. 3, 2012. (Doug Pensinger, Getty Images North America)

The debate will be divided into six segments of 15 minutes each. Moderator PBS NewsHour executive editor Jim Lehrer will pose a question at the start of each segment, the candidates each will be allowed the answer for two minutes, and then the discussion will be open.

Vivian Lam, who was handing out fliers detailing the persecution of followers of the Falun Gong movement in China, said she hoped to raise awareness of global human rights issues. "Neither candidate has taken a strong stance on human rights in China."

But protestors on both sides of the abortion issue dominated the street corner debate Wednesday afternoon, some waving graphic posters and warning that U.S. voters will be judged by God after the presidential election.

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Members of Denver's mounted patrol surrounded Rives Gorgan, a Los Angeles-based protestor known for disrupting political events nationwide, as he shouted from the sidewalk under the Driscoll Center bridge over Evans Avenue.

"This is the most important message and the most important election of our lifetime," Gorgan said, holding a poster calling abortion a sin in one hand and a photo of aborted fetuses in another.

"We will be judged by other countries and God," he said.

Gorgan, who backs GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, also linked funding for Planned Parenthood to natural disasters such as tornados.

Abortion-rights protestors shouted back at Gorgan as the police surrounded him.

He accused cops of trying to intimidate him "like the Nazi days."

Romney in August told CBS that his position on abortion "has been clear throughout this campaign. I'm in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest, and the health and life of the mother."

Obama has said he is committed to the Constitutional protections of a woman's right to abortion as affirmed by the landmark Roe v. Wade case.

Corrine Fowler, economic justice campaign director for Colorado Progressive Action, said her group is pressing the issue of the foreclosure crisis, a topic they say they've not heard enough about from either candidate.

"Sixteen million homeowners are underwater," she said. "It needs to be addressed.

Colorado Jobs with Justice organizer Joe Thomas said his group is pushing for an increase to the minimum wage — now $7.64 per hour in Colorado. He said the wage has not kept pace with inflation, if it had, it would be more than $10 by now.

"Minimum wage is not just teenagers working to pay for gas," he said. "It's adults working to survive."

There are about 100 protestors lining the sidewalks around DU and members of the Occupy Denver movement are preparing to march toward the campus.